The Survivor Tales
by Deathbyfire1222
Summary: These are my stories about what happened to survivor's before they entered the mall. Every survivor will be in here.
1. Chapter 1

Ch. 1: Dana Simms

It was 12:00 p.m and Dana Simms was sitting on the ground of the Entrance Plaza in the Willamette Parkview Mall, in hysterics about the zombie attack.

"Zombies! How could this happen?" she cried to her new found friend Verlene Willis.

"I'll be with you the whole time, so don't worry," Verlene said, trying to comfort Dana.

At those supposed to be comforting words, Dana broke into another bout of hysterics, remembering the past day, wishing she could have said those same words to her old friends, who she was sure were dead.

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The day before, she'd been at a party with one of her friends, Mindy Baker. She had persuaded Dana to go even though she wanted to go shopping. She was glad she had gone, the party had been great, people were dancing and talking. Suddenly there was loud thump on the door, followed by more at the windows. People stopped dancing and looked at the door, wondering what was happening outside.

"What's going on?" someone asked Dana.

"How should I know? Probably just the wind or something."

The thumping got louder and louder, and the sound of moaning was deafening.

"Dana, open the door and see what's up," someone else ordered.

"Why me?" Dana asked.

"Just do it," they said, pointing at the door.

Dana reluctantly went to the door and opened it. There, standing in front of her was a sea of undead. Time seemed to stand still. She looked at them, and they looked at her, none of them moving. Suddenly, they were pouring into the house, grabbing people and tearing open their stomachs, ripping their limbs off in hopes of getting a bite before the person was either to mutilated and died, or until they too became a zombie.

Dana frantically tried to find her friends in the mass of undead.

"Dana!" Mindy called out. Dana ran to her and saw she was on the counter, hitting zombies away with a frying pan.

"Dana! Help me!" Mindy yelled.

Dana ran through the mass, just narrowly avoiding a zombie that tried to rip her left hand off. She joined Mindy on the counter.

"Are you okay?" Dana asked, grabbing a knife.

"I'm fine," she said.

Before Dana could say anything else a zombie lurched up and grabbed Mindy's leg.

Mindy screamed and was on the floor before Dana could react. Now in a full state of panic, she leaped off the counter, not even noticing Mindy was still alive, and doing a good job of kicking them off of her, and ran out the kitchen door.

Once she was outside, she saw even more of them coming toward her.

"Oh my god! What's happening here!" she screamed.

Her only thought was to get somewhere safe, so she ran to her car and locked the door. She tore her keys out of her purse and with trembling fingers managed to put them in the ignition.

She started the car and drove out of the drive way and down the street. As she drove she noticed the crowd thinning. Up ahead she saw the mall and thought that would be the perfect place to hide. She started thinking about what she would do.

"I'll build a barricade out of benches and trashcans," she mumbled to herself, starting to form a plan.

She was so wrapped in her thoughts she didn't notice that there were cars sitting in the middle of the road and she crashed right into one. She was thrown violently forward, but her seatbelt kept her from going through the windshield.

She sat there, in shock at what had just happened, and suddenly noticed her car was on fire.

"Oh no!" she screamed as she jumped out of the car. She started running as fast as she could and tripped over her own feet and fell onto the ground. She crawled as fast as he could away from the car, and hid behind a nearby tree.

There was a loud bang and flaming car parts flew everywhere, and she saw the flaming remains of her purse fly through the air and land on an approaching zombie, lighting it on fire.

She noticed more coming toward her, got up an ran as fast as she could to the mall. She was in the parking lot five minutes later and noticed a barricade already over the front doors.

She ran to them and started pounding on the door with her fists. She could hear the zombies approaching behind her and yelled, "Let me in! Please let me in! Open the doors, please!"

She hears the sound of benches moving and a hand came through the gap and motioned for her to come in. She ran and saw there was a man in a red plaid shirt pointing a shotgun at her, and the man who had let he in was holding her arm tightly.

"Were you bitten?" Ryan LaRosa asked her.

"N-no" she stammered.

Ryan then checked her arms, legs and neck for bites. He then examined her clothes to make sure there were no tears that suggested she had been bitten.

"She's fine Brian," he said. He let Dana go and she, wanting to sit down, went to a corner. She looked around the empty plaza and had a terrible thought.

_What if we're the only ones alive! My friends and family are all probably dead and it's my fault! I didn't even try to help Mindy!_

At the thought of all her friends dead, she had broken down and cried. She cried for almost 2 hours and finally fell asleep. She was awoken early the next morning by the sound of someone yelling, and Brian talking. Two people came in. One of them had been Verlene.

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"Dana!" Verlene yelled, shaking her violently and bringing Dana out of her memories.

"Hmm?"

"Oh thank god you're okay! I thought you were turning!" Verlene explained.

"Oh," she said in reply. Suddenly she heard a door open and looked up. She saw a man with a camera come down the stairs and talk to Ryan. Ryan said something to him and he started walking toward her and Verlene. He paused right in front of her, held up his camera, took a picture and continued on.

"That was weird," she said.

"Yeah," Verlene answered. They both watched him walk to the gate and grab a trashcan, suddenly there was a loud yell.

They looked around and saw Lindsay running toward the doors.

"Madonna! My Madonna is out there!" Lindsay yelled pushing away the people trying to keep her from opening the doors. She pushed them away and opened the doors. She went right into the mass and grabbed her dog. Dana saw zombies grab her and start tearing her flesh, but she didn't let go of the dog, or try to escape.

Suddenly, it was the party all over again. Zombies were streaming in and people were frantically trying to escape. But this time Dana Simms wouldn't be so lucky. As soon as he stood up to run, a zombie pushed her down, laid it's head on her neck as if kissing her, and bit. There was a blinding pain, and more zombies joined the other one in feasting upon her. In her last moments of life, she saw zombies swarming all over the plaza, and slowly overpowering her now dearest friend, Verlene Willis.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2: Verlene Willis

"Hey, slowpoke, come on!" Simone Ravendark yelled, running ahead of Verlene and into Players in Paradise Plaza.

"Coming!" Verlene said, taking one last look around the plaza. The whole place seemed really empty. There were very few people in it and even most of the employees were gone. What worried her most though, was that she was supposed to meet Cheryl here an hour ago.

She rushed into Players and saw Simone already at the counter, paying for a CD.

"Hey, you finally arrived!" Simone said grabbing a bag a walking toward her. "If you want to look, hurry up the mall closes in half an hour."

"No, let's go," Verlene said.

They walked into Entrance Plaza and Verlene decided to go into Ladies Space.

"Hey, Simone, actually I do want to go into Ladies Space really fast, I saw a this really cute sweater in there yesterday," she said, heading toward the escalator.

"Okay. I'm gonna go so I'll see you tomorrow," Simone said, heading to the front doors.

"Alright, later," Verlene said waving to her.

She went into the store, bought the sweater and left. As she was walking past Robsaka Digital, she overheard the news caster say that there had been a small riot near the edge of town.

Verlene backtracked past the store, but the newscaster had moved on to another story. She walked into the store and asked the cashier if he knew anything about the riot.

"Yeah, It happened right down by the river. Apparently there were two groups of people fighting. They were both attacking each other, but one of them overtook the other. I heard there were almost ninety five deaths," he explained.

"Oh, thank you," she said her voice shaking. Her breathing got faster, and she was starting to sweat.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked coming out from behind the counter.

"My friend lives by the river, I need to call and see if she's okay!" Verlene said, thinking the worst had happened to Cheryl.

"Oh yeah, here," he said handing her the phone from behind the counter.

She dialed Cheryl's number and put the phone to her ear. The phone rang, and then Verlene got Cheryl's voice mail.

"Hey this is Cheryl! Leave a message! Oh, and if it's you Ray, go away and stop calling me!"

"Hey, Cher it me Verlene, I heard about the riot and was wondering if your okay. Call me back," Verlene said, her voice shaking badly and tears swelling in her eyes. She handed the phone back to the guy and ran out of the store. She ran to her car, started it up and drove off toward Cheryl's apartment.

She arrived ten minutes later and saw that the apartment buildings were completely torn up, as were the roads around them. Cars were piled up in the middle of the road, and a large food trucks delivering goods to Seon's Food and Stuff had crashed into a wall and was now burning.

The buildings, however looked worse. There were tons of broken windows, the front doors had been ripped off, there were bodies and blood all over the ground and splattered all over the buildings.

Verlene looked over all of this in horror. Before she knew what she was doing she was running into the nearest building and up the stairs. At every body she passed she stopped to look at it to make sure it wasn't Cheryl. She finally reached Cheryl's apartment on the top floor. The door was gone and had been thrown down the hall.

Verlene ran into the apartment and stared around it in horror. The couch was covered in blood, the carpet was torn up, the TV was in pieces. She ran into Cheryl's bedroom and saw the bed was also covered in blood and there was an empty handgun on it. The nightstand was a pile of splintered wood, and there were pieces of Cheryl's ceramic lamp all over. She walked into the bathroom and saw the bloody, shattered mirror, the window was also broken, and the toilet had a huge chunk missing from its side and water was covering the floor.

Verlene ran out and decide to look in the kitchen for any sign of her friend. She walked in and saw knives strewn all over the floor, and the refrigerator was on its side. Verlene saw a leg sticking out from under it, and thinking it was Cheryl, ran toward it. She tried everything she could to move the refrigerator, but nothing worked. After half an hour of pushing and pulling at the refrigerator, she finally gave up.

"Oh, Cheryl! I can't believe this!" she cried. She stared at the leg, remembering all the good times she and her had had together. All the times they'd gone shopping, their first double date, the time Cheryl had accidentally pushed Verlene into one of the moats in Paradise Plaza, and how Verlene had gotten her back by pushing her into the fountain in Al Fresca Plaza.

After a while of sitting in the ruined kitchen, Verlene decided she had to get home, in case the rioters came back.

She got in her car, and had turned it on when she saw a man slowly walking toward her. At first she thought he had survived, then as she got out of her car to walk to him, she saw he had glowing red eyes, and his right arm was missing.

"Oh my god," she whispered as she backed toward her car. He lunged forward as she stumbled into her car. She started it, took one last look at him and the surrounding area, and drove away as fast as she could.

But during her last look at the buildings and the creature, she failed to notice a small, but most important detail, Cheryl's purse was hanging from the mirror of her car, with a little white paper sticking out of it. That paper had Verlene's name on it, and had she noticed it, she would have known exactly where Cheryl was.

As Verlene drove from the scene of the riot, her mind was racing. She couldn't stop thinking about Cheryl, or that the riot might have moved to another part of town. And what would happen to Simone?

She was so deep in thought, she didn't notice the flashing red light signaling her car was out of gas until it slowed down and stopped.

"Damn it!" she yelled.

She got out of the car. She was about to call someone to pick her up when she heard a loud moaning noise and the sound of many shuffling feet behind her. She turned around and saw many of the same creature with glowing red eyes she had seen at Cheryl's apartment.

"Zombies," she whispered, finally realizing what they were.

One of them lunged at her, making her fall into the front seat of her car. They all shuffled toward and started squeezing themselves into the small car, hoping to be the first to get a bite of this delicious looking young woman.

She scrambled over the front seat and onto the passenger side, where she opened the door and ran out.

She fled down the street, frantically looking for a place to hide. There was nowhere she could go. The zombies were pouring out of shops, houses, cars, and even the sewers. She ran around in a blind panic, looking for anywhere she could go, anything she could use as a weapon.

She was about to give up when she saw something at the end of the road. Zombies were falling over. As she looked further, she saw the hood of a cherry red convertible coming her way.

She ran to the nearest car, an overturned blue van and got on top of it and started waving her arms.

"Help! Help! I'm over here!" she yelled, her arms flailing madly.

The car came closer and she saw it was being driven by a man about her age. He stopped next to the van and looked up at her, and got out. He took out a baseball bat and started hitting away the approaching zombies.

"Get something out of the backseat of my car and start killing," he ordered.

She jumped down and ran to the convertible. She reached in and grabbed a 2x4 and started whacking away zombies.

Half an hour later, there were massive piles of dead zombies around the car.

"Thank you for coming over here to get me," she said, wiping sweat off her forehead.

"No problem," he said, wiping blood off his hands.

"Well, we better get going before more come," he said pointing to more slowly approaching from around the dead ones.

They got into the car and started driving. It looked like they weren't going anywhere in particular, just driving a running zombies over in the process.

"I'm Mark Quemada," he said, as a zombie hit the windshield and flew over the car.

"I'm Verlene Willis," she said.

"So, how did you manage to get stuck in this hell hole?" he asked.

"I heard there were riots by the river and my friend lives down there. I went to check on her, but she's dead. Then my car died. I'd be dead if you hadn't come along," she said. Then she added, "I should have just stayed in the mall."

"That's a great idea!" Mark exclaimed.

"What is?" she asked.

"Go to the mall," he said. "We can hide out there until this all blows over."

He turned out onto the nearest street and headed toward the mall.

After a while of driving a great big stone wall loomed up ahead of them.

"Right, they closed off the parking lot to Leisure Park," he said.

He was about to back up and turn around when he saw a sturdy looking board leaning against the wall. Instead he backed up a little, then slammed his foot on the gas. They sped toward the board.

"Mark, what are you doing?" she asked.

He didn't answer, but kept speeding toward the board.

"Mark! Mark! Stop! Your gonna kill us!" she screamed.

As soon as her sentence was finished, they were in the air, sailing above the parking lot.

Verlene screamed. The only thought going through her head was _I don't want to die here!_

The car hit the ground hard, sending both her and Mark flying up out of their seats. Verlene unbuckled and got out of the car. She stood next to the car door and puked.

"Are you okay?" Mark asked, running toward her.

"I'm fine," she said wiping her mouth on her sleeve.

"I'm sorry we had to do that, but it was the only way in," he said, patting her back as she started coughing.

Once she was sure she had finished coughing and puking, Verlene suggested they head inside.

"Good idea," Mark agreed.

Together they walked toward the doors to Paradise Plaza.

They entered through the front doors and Verlene looked around the familiar plaza.

"I'm gonna go get some weapons," he said to Verlene. "You get material to make a barricade with.

He headed toward SporTrance. Verlene headed down the plaza to get some benches. She noticed Players and walked into the same store Simone had dragged her into not 8 hours ago. Suddenly she heard a noise, like people talking.

"Mark!" she called. "Mark come quick!"

"What is it? Are you okay?" he asked looking over the railings of Columbian Roastmasters.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I think there are other people here!" she yelled.

He appeared a moment later holding a baseball bat.

"Come on," he said beckoning for her to follow.

They walked into Entrance Plaza and sure enough there were three men talking loudly, and a woman huddled in a corner sleeping.

"Hey!" Mark yelled as he and Verlene ran toward them.

One man pointed a shot gun at him and yelled, "Stop right there. Todd, go check them out."

The other man, Todd ran over to Mark and started checking him over. After a minute of doing so he yelled, "He's clear!"

Then he came over to Verlene and started looking her over. It might have been her but it seemed as though he stared at chest a little too long.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Oh, just looking for bites," he said lamely. "She's clean too."

Everyone's face softened. The man with the shotgun came over and shook their hands. "I'm Brian Reynolds," he said. "This is Todd Mendel," he said pointing to Todd. "That's Ryan LaRosa," he said pointing to a man fussing with the barricade. "And that, is Dana Simms," he said pointing to the girl who had woken up and was now crying. "Looks like you boyfriend here woke her up. She's been hysterical since she got here. We can't shut her up."

"Leave it to me," Verlene said walking toward Dana. She kneeled down to look at her. Her eyes were puffy and red.

"There there sweetie," Verlene said giving the girl a friendly hug. Dana hugged back, crying into Verlene's shoulder, thankful to have someone to hold onto again.

"What happened?" Verlene asked as Dana finally let go.

Dana explained the party, how it was her fault Mindy was dead. How she hadn't even tried to help her. After she had finished telling it, she burst into a new round of tears.

"Shhh. Everything will be alright," Verlene said, trying to comfort her.

"No it won't, all my friends are dead!" Dana sobbed.

"No they aren't," Verlene said.

"What do you mean?" Dana asked lifting her head up.

"Well, I'm not dead am I?"

Dana smiled and hugged her new best friend. Together they sat there, talking about the invasion, their friends, and what they were going to do when the attack ended. Every time a survivor entered the mall, Dana and Verlene looked up eagerly to see if it was anyone they knew.

After hours of comforting Dana, Verlene was starting to get tired. She wanted to sleep badly, but feared Dana might go back to square one with all the crying and screaming.

At about noon a man came out into the plaza from the security entrance. Verlene and Dana looked up at him. He spoke to Ryan and then came over to them. He took a picture and continued on.

"That was weird," Verlene said.

"Yeah," Dana agreed.

Suddenly, they heard that lady, Lindsay screaming her dogs name.

"Here she goes again," Verlene heard Mark mutter.

As she looked at Lindsay, she saw she was destroying the barricade and pushing people away.

Suddenly the doors were open and zombies were streaming in. Verlene heard a man yelling from the floor above, but couldn't make out what he was saying.

She got up, took Dana by the hand, and started running.

Suddenly, a zombie lunged at Dana knocking her down and causing her to let go.

They pushed Verlene away as they tried to get to the defenseless girl.

Verlene saw the zombies overtake her. Then she heard Dana scream. A blood curling scream of pain and terror.

Verlene backed up against the opposite wall. Some zombies stayed to feast on Dana, but most were closing in around her. Suddenly, they were on her. They chewed on her, clawed at her, and in her last moment of life, she knew exactly what Dana had felt. She screamed herself, took one last attempt to escape, and died.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3: Kathy and Alan Peterson

Kathy and Alan had had the perfect wedding. The cake was ornately decorated, the guests all showed up, and it was a beautiful, sunny May 12th in Willamette, Colorado. Kathy and Alan had seemed like the perfect couple. They had dated since high school, and through college. They got along great, laughed at each other's jokes, and almost never fought. They had honeymooned in Alaska and had had a great time. They were meant for each other.

Fast forward to September 19th 2006.

The couple, who hated each other for years, were sitting on the floor of Entrance Plaza, arguing about yet another thing.

Through all the crying of Dana Simms, the ordering of Ryan LaRosa, and the little conversation Mark was having with himself about the zombies, they were the loudest yelling people in the plaza.

"Damn! Every time I come shopping with you, something happens to raise my blood pressure!" Alan yelled at his wife, who was sitting on the floor, rubbing an injured leg.

"What do you mean every time? You don't even come home most nights, let alone come shopping with me," Kathy wined.

"Well, I work for a living!" Alan yelled.

Kathy had wanted to yell back that she did too. She had opened and ran Kathy's boutique successfully every day for ten years.

Actually, the opening of that certain boutique had been the start of many, many arguments the Petersons were going to have.

Alan had been outraged that she had used their savings to open up a small boutique in the mall.

He had yelled at her, screamed at her, and even threatened to hit her, but she never gave up the store.

Despite his threats, she had bought merchandise to stock the store, and had even hired a few young ladies from around the town to work there.

Instead of yelling to him about running a store for ten years faithfully, she decided to nail his young new secretary.

"Is that what you call that big titted secretary of yours? Work!"

They had continuing arguing until it got to the point where he threatened a divorce.

"I can't wait until I see the look on your face when those zombies eat you!" He spat at her.

"That's my line buster!" she retorted back, rubbing her injured leg.

She had gotten pretty badly injured on their trek to the mall through the zombie infested Willamette.

As they were running through the streets, Alan with a lead pipe in his hand, Kathy with a 2x4 in hers, she hadn't been looking where she had been going and had rammed her leg right into the bumper of a car.

For the first time in years, Alan had shown an affectionate side and had picked her up and carried her on his back, much like a certain photojournalist would be doing to an unfortunate woman with the same problem.

Alan had carried her through the streets, and into the mall. They were greeted by Ryan and the others, with the usual checks for bites.

Alan had let her off his back, and she immediately fell over and bumped her head on the edge of the pool in which the big bee clock was standing. She had fallen unconscious and had woken up in the corner with bandages around her leg and head. There was a box thrown on the ground that said thy were from Seon's Food and Stuff.

At first she thought that Alan had gotten them and that maybe they could renew their marriage and start all over.

She saw a man with big glasses, who had introduced himself as Freddie May, come over to see if she was alright.

"I ran over to get those as soon as I saw you were hurt," he said, making sure the bandages were wrapped tightly.

"Where's my husband?" she asked.

"Over there," he said pointing to Alan, who was examining an advertisement for a store.

"He didn't want to come with me, but instead went over to that advertisement," Freddie explained.

"Well thank you, but shouldn't you be back watching the barricade?"

"Your right, I forgot. Well see ya," he said walking back to the barricade.

"Alan!" Kathy called.

He walked over and immediately started yelling at her, his affection gone.

They sat there in silence, looking at each other in deep hate. Then they heard a yell from across the plaza.

They both looked up to see that crazy lady, Lindsay, destroying the barricade and yelling her dog's name.

Suddenly, Alan was gone, across the plaza, grabbing a 2x4 and abandoning her once again.

Before she knew it, the zombies had reached the back of the plaza. They were on all sides of her, clawing, biting, and shoving.

The last thing she saw before she died was Dana Simms' body, dead on the floor, being feasted upon. Verlene Willis was backed against the wall, and her own husband had his back to her.

Alan heard Kathy scream and heard the thump as she fell to the ground. He turned around and looked at her body, some zombies already tearing the flesh off.

He was caught off guard, and the next thing he knew they were all over him. Before he died, he took one last look at his wife and felt remorse. Deep remorse that they never made up, and now he could never talk to her again.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch. 4: Freddie May.

Before the zombie attack in September, Freddie had worked at the mall as the manager of Entrance Plaza. He knew all the shops, what each shop carried, and he even knew where every security camera was. He'd been working at the mall since has was 20, and started out as a janitor.

Now he was in his plaza and putting up a barricade in front of the doors. For the past night he and the other survivors had made sure it stayed strong, but was easy to move in case people cam in. It was now 11:45 and he figured anyone who was still alive would have come in by now, so he was closing the doors for good.

He'd closed the gate, but the zombies had somehow torn a hole in it and were now pounding on the glass of the front doors.

Ryan LaRosa was still giving orders to strengthen the barricade, but there was no point anymore. When Freddy had closed the gate on the doors, he'd also closed off the shops, further muffling the cries of Bill Brenton in the closet of In The Closet.

The only useful items now were the little pile of benches and trashcans in the back of the plaza and no one felt like using them.

They were all gaping at the zombies, as was Freddy. He turned away to check on Kathy Peterson. He had made the long trip to Seon's Food and Stuff to get her bandages, and it looked like she was doing ok. She was arguing with her husband, and doing it very loudly.

The clock struck noon, and Freddy heard the door to the security room open and saw a man walk out.

Freddy had suggested they hide in the security room. There was food, and cots they could sleep on. Ryan had denied, saying he had been here first and therefore was in control of what happened.

Freddy, went over to straighten up a bench that was about to fall onto Chris Hines, who was looking out at the zombies with an expression of fascination on his face.

He straightened it up, checked a few signs and plotted plants, and went back to watching the zombies.

"My god! There are so many!" he muttered to himself.

He saw the man come downstairs and Ryan gave him his orders.

He saw the man walk back, and take pictures.

"Must be a reporter," Freddy mumbled.

"Ryan, is there anything I can do?" he asked. He was feelling very bored and need something to keep his mind off the boredom. He's stopped worrying about the zombies hours ago, when he had seen they wouldn't be getting through the door anytime soon.

Ryan didn't say anything, but gave him a look that said, "You know what you can do."

Freddy turned back to watching the zombies. One of them was chewing on a disembodied arm, and had almost ripped all the skin off of the palm and thumb.

_Gross,_ he thought.

Then he saw something move through the crowd. It was white, and had a puffy tail. It was that dog that Lindsay was crying about he realized as it stood and peed on a zombie's leg.

_I can't let her see it. If she does she'll surely try to get to it,_ he thought.

He tried to move in front of it, but she had seen it.

"Madonna!" Lindsay screamed.

As the dog heard it's name, it yelped at it's owner.

"Oh god no!" Freddie whispered as she ran to the door.

She started moving the barricade out of the way.

"What are you thinking!" he yelled as he tried to pull her away. She pushed him off and continued screaming.

He saw the same thing happen to Chris. She managed to open the door and was going out. Suddenly the zombies were in. Most walked past Freddie, but one seeing him in a vulnerable position, knelt down on top of him.

It leaned forward and bit the skin off his shoulder, jacket and all. Blood spurted from the wound and he screamed. A loud scream of pain that no one could have ever accomplished under different circumstances. The zombie continued eating and soon more zombies joined.

He stayed alive long enough to see three other people die. His last thought was that he would never see Otis, Greg, or any other of the mall employees who were his friends.

Then, a zombies, the manager of Paradise Plaza as it so happened, bit his throat and tore it out. He made a gurgling scream and died. Soon more zombies joined. By the time the reporter was up the stairs he had no eyes, almost no more neck, and his stomach was open, his guts spilling out for the zombies to slurp up like noodles.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch. 5: Ryan LaRosa

It was 2:35 in the small town of Willamette, Colorado. Ryan LaRosa and his wife were sitting at the small park on Sycamore Street, watching the children play, each wishing they had one of their own. It was a beautiful September 18th.

"Grace, get away from that!" a lady yelled, running up and retrieving her 2 year old daughter from an active beehive.

Suddenly, bees started to swarm. They attacked people, swarming around their heads. The park was full of screaming children, mothers, and fathers.

"Grace!" the lady yelled. She scooped up her daughter and ran to her car.

"Come on, let's go," Ryan said, tugging on his wife's arm. They got up and ran through the swarm of infected wasps. Suddenly, one stung Helen LaRosa on the arm.

"Ow," she gasped, rubbing her arm.

They continued running, and all of a sudden Helen stopped.

"Helen, are you okay?" Ryan asked as he got into the street.

She didn't reply, but Ryan saw her breathing get more rapid, her eyes glazed over, and suddenly, she was in a heap on the ground.

"Helen!" Ryan screamed. "Can anyone help her?"

He looked up and saw people left and right falling into heaps on the ground all over the street and park. The only other person who wasn't in a heap on the ground was a woman in an orange sweater and green shirt.

Suddenly, they started getting up again, except they were very slow in doing so.

"Helen, thank God your okay!" he exclaimed.

She turned her face toward him, and he saw only the whites of her eyes, and her nose was bleeding rapidly. She opened her mouth and blood poured out of it and onto her shirt.

"Oh shit!" he yelled in surprise. By now she was fully up and he was still on the ground.

She looked at him for a second, then bent down to take a bite of him.

"Run! She isn't yours anymore! Get away from her!" the lady screamed, pushing Helen away.

"We need to get away from here!" she said.

"Right, we need to get a doctor," he said, looking up at the bleeding corpses now walking.

"No! Don't you see they are zombies!" she screamed.

As if on queue a man ran into the street screaming about his brother. All the zombies turned toward him and attacked. They all lunged at once, tearing open his stomach, and ripping offlimbs. He screamed loudly as blood spurted out of his wounds Suddenly they stopped, and turned away. The man slowly got up like the others, and slowly shambled toward Ryan and Jennifer.

"Your right," he murmured. They both ran off. They got to an old warehouse and decided to take refuge in there.

"We should be safe in here," he panted. "Take a look around and see if you can get stuff to make a barricade."

She ran off and half an hour later, they had a barricade. Ryan checked his watch, it was 3:30.

"How long you think we'll be here?" she asked.

"I don't know," he answered. Ryan put his head against a box, and without realizing it, he fell asleep.

"Hey, wake up!" Jennifer yelled, shaking him awake.

"What?" he asked groggily.

"The barricade! They've started knocking it down!" she yelled.

Ryan was up in a flash and running to the front of the warehouse. Before he was half way there, there was a huge crash and zombies started pouring in.

"Go to the back door!" he yelled.

"They both ran to the back door and started tearing down the barricade they had built by it.

"Hurry!" Jennifer yelled, looking over her shoulder and at the zombies.

The last box was away just as the first zombies came around the shelves.

Ryan threw open the door and they ran out into the moonlight backyard.

Ryan ran to the fence and started climbing it, Jennifer right as his heels. Suddenly the zombies poured into the yard, their eyes glowing evilly red. They pulled Jennifer off the fence and she was on the ground in an instant.

"Help me!" she screamed. But Ryan kept going, there was no point in going back, he'd be killed too. He got to the top and jumped down. He turned around and looked through the fence at the yard. The zombies were knelling down and she was screaming loudly. He felt bad, but knew he must get going. He ran down the road, past the shadows of the warehouse, and passed the man in a yellow rain coat, eyeing Jennifer.

Ryan was three blocks away when he started to get a stitch in his side.

_I need to find a car_, he thought.

He looked around, seeing cars left and right, each with open doors and keys still in the ignition.

He ran up to one, dodging a lone zombie, and got inside. He turned the key and the engine started. He was extra careful to hit the zombie, and drove down the street.

Possible hiding places flew through his mind. His house? Nah, to many people, meaning too many zombies. The grocery store? Too near the park, there might be more wasps. The mall? Yes! It was perfect! Food, supplies, and barricading materials.

He took a left turn and headed toward the Willamette Parkview Mall.

He arrived ten minutes later. He left the car in the parking lot, and ran to the front doors. They were locked, and according to his watch, it was 11:02. he heard a few moans and turned around to see a few zombies come into the parking lot.

He turned back to the doors, broke the glass, reached in and unlocked the door. He ran inside and locked the door again. He stepped into the dark plaza and looked around.

"Hmm, this seems good. There are a lot of stores with barricade supplies," he mumbled.

He was soon to get to work. He had three benches, and a sign in place when there was a click behind him. He turned around and found himself staring at the business end of a shotgun, held by a man in a red flannel shirt.

"Don't move!" he yelled. "Were you bitten?"

"No," Ryan said, not moving a muscle.

"I'll be the one to judge that," he said.

He checked over Ryan, and upon finding nothing, except for the scratches on Ryan's arm.

Suddenly his voice was a lot softer. "Good to see another human," he said extending his hand.

"Yeah," Ryan said, shaking the man's hand.

"I'm Brian Reynolds," the man said.

"Ryan LaRosa," Ryan said.

"So, what are you doing," Brian asked.

"Building a barricade so they can't get in," Ryan said, motioning to the few zombies that had reached the doors.

"Why didn't I think of that! I've been sitting on that staircase waiting for them to try and come in so I can blast their heads off!" Brian said.

"Not a bad idea. But you'd eventually run out of ammo, and they'd overtake you. They are pretty strong. They got this one girl I was with off a fence in no time," Ryan explained.

"Yeah, they killed my family," Brian said.

"Well, we better get working on this barricade," Ryan said.

"Yeah," Brian agreed.

They built up their barricade and tore it down as survivors came into the mall. With each survivor that came in, there was a check to see if they were bitten, and none of them were. Not even old Mrs. Kathy Peterson who had survived the whole ordeal with her husband after jamming her leg into a car. The last man to come in was Frank West, who came in through the security room.

_He must've been up there a while and heard voices so he came down,_ Ryan thought.

He told the man to start helping with the barricade and about the zombies. The man went on to do what Ryan told him, one of the few who did. As he walked, Ryan noticed he took pictures of the various survivors.

_Must be a reporter,_ he thought.

Suddenly, the old dog lady was screaming. She pushed Freddy and Chris off as they tried to stop her opening the door. Ryan just stood there in shock as she got it open and was dragged in by the zombies. But she wasn't enough for the sea of zombies. They all poured into the mall.

Hundreds of them were swarmed all over Ryan before he fully registered what had just happened, all his hard work gone.

Suddenly he was on the ground and screaming. In his last moment of life, he saw the reporter run past. He tried to call out but couldn't. Now he knew how that poor girl felt, being overtaken by zombies and no one to help her.


	6. Chapter 6

Ch 6: Chris Hines and Lindsay Harris

On the day of September 18th, 2006, Chris Hines had been at his grandmother's house, remodeling it with a company he worked for. As soon as Lindsay Harris heard from her daughter, Chris's mother, that he worked with them, she called immediately.

The job was not going well. First of all, Chris had never had a good relationship with his grandmother, and second, that dog of hers kept getting in the way. It darted between the workers, hitting ladders and paint cans, all the while barking madly.

Chris checked his watch, 6:34 pm.

_Only half an hour left, _he thought to himself.

He hated her house. The way it smelled, the way everything was falling apart, and her and that dog. She would never let Madonna out of her sight. If it ever came in she was apt to come in with it. If it darted under ladders, she was apt to dart under them too, madly screaming her dog's name. She was an old, feeble lady but she could muster up quite a bit of energy when it came to Madonna.

"You guys have been working very hard," she said, walking into the guest bedroom they were working in. "I was going to bring you some iced tea, but I'm afraid Madonna knocked the tray out of my hand."

"It's quite alright," Chris growled through clenched teeth.

"Don't use a tone with me, or I'll call your mother," Lindsay threatened.

Chris only glared at her and went back to tearing out the carpet.

That was another thing Chris hated about her. Even though he was 31, she seemed to think she could control him by threatening him with his mother.

Lindsay walked out of the room, lovingly stroking her dog.

"Man, your grandma's crazy," one of the guys next to him commented.

"You don't need to tell me that," Chris replied.

By seven, the carpet was gone, and so were the workers. Except Chris. Lindsay had insisted he stay for dinner with her. He accepted, knowing if he didn't he was in for a big argument about how he never spent time with his grandma anymore.

Dinner that night was liver and onions. A dish Chris hated more than anything, and one Lindsay loved almost as much as her dog.

He ate every dripping stinky bite with great hatred. Lindsay gobbled hers up, and then got up to get another bite. To him, Madonna's dog kibble looked more appetizing.

It was nearly ten thirty and he was finally done with dinner. Every time he finished a plate, she would put more on it saying he needed his nutrition. When the pot was finally empty, he got up to leave, tired and ready to go home and go to bed, when he heard a loud thump an the door.

"Chris, will you please get that for me?" she asked, putting the dishes in the sink.

Chris opened the door, and saw a group of about 20 people standing on the front porch. He was about to invite them in, despite what his grandmother might say, when he noticed something different about them. They didn't look like normal people. Their skin was gray and clammy. Their eyes were completely white. Some had chunks of their skull missing from them, while others only had torn, bloody stumps where their arms were.

"Chris, who is it?" Lindsay called, coming to the door.

She came up beside Chris, got one look at the undead, and screamed like no other old lady has ever screamed before.

"I've had this dream before!" she shrieked. "They're coming for Madonna! They want to take my baby! They can't! Not my Madonna!" she ran back into the house and scooped up her dog.

The zombies started moving toward Chris. He could only stand in the door way frozen with terror, watching the zombies slowly advance toward him. It was Lindsay's scream that shook him from his trance.

"Get away from my baby!" she screamed from the other side of the house.

Chris quickly shut and locked the door, and ran to where she was. She was in the living room, by the sliding glass door that led to the back yard. The zombies were pounding on the glass, and she was huddled on the couch, holding Madonna protectively.

"We have to get out of here," he said to her.

"Yes we do. I'll get Madonna's dog carrier," Lindsay said, heading toward the stairs.

"No! She'll just slow us down!" Chris yelled.

"I'm not leaving without my baby!" Lindsay yelled back, hugging Madonna closer to her.

Before Chris could reply, there came the sound of cracking glass. Chris turned to look at the door, and saw a crack right in the middle of it, getting larger as the zombies continued pounding on it.

"Fine bring the dog! But we need to get out of here quick. Chris, with Lindsay closely following, ran into the laundry room. He went through the door that led into the garage, opened the big garage door, and bolted inside of her old car as zombies shuffled in. Lindsay got in the backseat, still holding Madonna in her arms, and they drove out into the street.

They ran over zombies left and right, dodged cars that were parked at random in the middle of the street, their doors hanging on by a hinge, blood soaking the seats and windows.

Chris and Lindsay drove, trying to find a safe hiding place. Any building, alley way, or secluded area not packed with zombies desperately trying to get to them.

"Chris, Madonna needs to go to the bathroom. Can't we let her go?" Lindsay asked from the back.

"Just let her go in the car," Chris said, not believing his grandmother wanted to stop and risk being eaten alive so her dog could pee.

"No! That's inhumane and would ruin my car," Lindsay whined.

"I don't care! Right now I'm more focused on staying alive!" he yelled at her.

As soon as he had finished, the dog squatted down and peed on the seat, nearly missing Lindsay's leg.

"Madonna! Don't do that ever again!" Lindsay scolded her dog.

Madonna whined, and Lindsay gave her a sympathetic look, "Oh, I could never stay mad at you."

Chris looked at the clock on the dashboard. It was eleven.

"Phew Madonna, that smells bad!" Lindsay exclaimed, rolling down the window.

As soon as she did, the small dog jumped out. It could've been because she had seen a tasty arm, or maybe she was tired of Lindsay, but either way she was gone and Lindsay was in hysterics.

"Madonna! Madonna! Oh my Madonna! I have to get her!" Lindsay screamed, reaching for the door handle. Chris locked the doors and continued on.

Lindsay screamed from the backseat, and Chris drove on. He thought about giving up trying to find a hiding place, when he saw the mall looming up ahead.

_Of course! The mall! It's perfect!_, he thought.

He turned into the parking lot and saw a few zombies. He parked the car as close to the front door as possible and got out. He helped Lindsay out and together they ran to the front door, only to see a small barricade already in front of it.

Chris pounded on the door and Lindsay wailed miserably about her dog. Obviously someone heard them because the benches started moving and the door opened. They ran inside, and were greeted by Ryan LaRosa, and a man with a gun.

"Were you bitten?" Ryan asked, starting the many times in the next few hours he would ask the same question.

"No," Chris and Lindsay said in unison.

They were both checked over and proved they had not been bitten.

Ryan immediately got to work on rebuilding the barricade and asked Chris to help. Lindsay didn't do anything. She just stood in the same spot and cried for Madonna.

People came in and Chris helped rebuild each time someone did and Lindsay only cried.

With her and Dana combined, Chris had a huge headache by noon the next day. He was exhausted but didn't dare sleep.

On the stroke of noon, Lindsay noticed something odd. In the huge crowd of zombies outside, a little whit streak darted between their legs. Then that little white streak yelped, and Lindsay knew it was Madonna.

"Madonna! My Madonna is out there!" she screamed, trying to open the doors. Freddie and Chris both tried to pull her away, but even though she was old and frail, when it came to Madonna she would not give up. She threw them both off and successfully opened the door, letting the zombies in.

She crawled through their legs and got to Madonna. She hugged the dog, not hearing the screams of the other survivors, or seeing the hundreds of zombies leaning down to get to her. She hugged Madonna tightly, and that is how she died. With her arms wrapped tightly around her most beloved possession. Her dog.

Chris saw his grandmother be killed, and the others around him were going fast. He tried to run, but as soon as he moved his tired legs gave way. He was asleep within seconds, and gave himself peacefully to the zombies.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Paul Carson

Paul Carson was your everyday average teenager, except for one major thing. He was Willamette's biggest pyromaniac. If it could catch fire, it had been discovered by Paul. He spent his free time creating his own bombs, raiding his parents' wine stash so he could make Molotov cocktails, and burning whatever he could to the ground. Paul had burned down every tree in his back yard, and destroyed the deck of his house because there was nothing left to burn.

Paul spent most of his time in his room and the backyard. One the occasions he did go out, life became miserable. If he went to the mall, other teenagers would point and call him names. Parents would drag their children away from him, and no matter what he did, they all laughed. Life for him would become unbearable and would go back home and set something else alight.

On the day of September 21st, he had trapped two women in the Casual Gals closet and was threatening their lives with one of his special, homemade Molotov cocktails. He had found Mindy Baker and Debbie Willet wandering around Wonderland Plaza, scared and confused. He had seen them at the mall before, undoubtedly laughing like the others and had attacked them. He grabbed Mindy by the hair, and had threatened to light her on fire with his lighter. She had screamed and cried and kicked, but to no avail. That's when Debbie had hit Paul over the back with a baseball bat. He had turned to her, anger prevalent in his eyes. After a moment, he thought of an ingenious plan. He ran to the upstairs part of the Space Rider machine, making the girls think he had left. Then he had strapped a bomb onto a remote control car and driven it down the steps. With the car, he had chased them into the small closet of Casual Gals.

Now, here he was ready to throw a Molotov cocktail in their faces, and show them the error of their ways.

"Please don't do this!" Debbie screamed as she hugged Mindy.

"But I h-h-have t-to!" Paul yelled back, grabbing at a wine bottle he had snatched from Seon's Food and Stuff.

Just then a man, Frank West was sneaking up behind Paul as Mindy asked, "What did we ever do to you?"

"Y-y-you do it all the time. Y-you l-l-look at me a-and l-laugh!" Paul answered as Frank got closer. Just then, Frank West tripped over a bottle of gasoline, alerting Paul.

Paul looked at him, then the girl's then back to him. He tried to decide who to throw this nice, warm Molotov cocktail at, and decided Frank was more of a threat. He threw the cocktail and ran out of the store as fast as he could.

Frank ran after him, attempting to kill him and get to the survivors. As Frank chased, Paul dropped bombs in his path, hoping to shake him off. This went on for some time, and Paul became tired. He continued to throw bombs in an attempt to shake off Frank, but he was getting nowhere.

After a while, Frank finally caught up to him. He slashed at Paul with a sword. The sword hit him in the ribs. There was a blinding pain, and blood spurted out of his stomach. AS Frank made to hit again, Paul dodged out of the way and ran back into Casual Gals. He grabbed another bottle of wine, and was attempting to light it on fire when Frank came in. The lighter wasn't working and it took a few tries to get it to light. When the cocktail was ready, Paul grinned and got ready to finish Frank off. He stepped back to put distance between him and the blast and he tripped over a bottle of gasoline. He hit the ground hard and let go of the burning wine bottle. It flew into the air, and landed feet from him. There was a huge explosion, and before Paul knew what was happening, his jeans had caught fire.

He felt the fire burning his skin, and screamed in pain and frustration; sure he was going to die without giving Debbie and Mindy what they deserved. He watched Frank run out of the store, sure he was leaving him to die. Frank came back with a fire extinguisher and was amazed to see that Frank was actually trying to save him.

Once Paul was extinguished, he got up and thanked Frank. The man asked him to join his party and handed Paul the same sword he had been hit with. As Paul looked over the sword, Frank went and got the girls out of the closet. They slowly approached Paul, thinking he might try to hurt them again. When he showed no signs of aggression, they relaxed and took what was offered to them.

Together, the survivors ran out of the store and into the zombie infested mall. Paul limped badly because of his wounds, but managed to have some fun by slicing countless zombies in half. When they got through the mall and in to the security room, Paul thanked him and went to the room Otis appointed him.

_I must find some way to repay him,_ Paul thought. Paul went over to the corner, and pondered the ways he could thank Frank for letting him live after what he had done. After hours of thinking, the idea came to him. He had seen Floyd walking around, sharing his wine bottle with the others in the room.

_Molotov cocktails!_ Paul thought,_yes__, they'll be perfect_

He took a wine bottle out of his pocket, and ordered Otis to call Frank and tell him he wanted to give him something. Frank came in, sweaty and covered in blood. Paul called him over, and gave him a Molotov cocktail. Frank took it in his hands, and an incredulous expression came over his face. The others in the room looked the same as Frank, and Paul told him he could have as many as he wanted. Frank took a few more, thanked him, and walked out.

"Where did you get that?" Jolie Wuu asked.

"I made it," he muttered, afraid that the others would start laughing.

"You did! That's amazing!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Really? You mean it isn't stupid or something?" Paul asked a little louder.

"No way! That is cool! That is like the ultimate zombie killing tool," she said.

"Wow, thanks," Paul said.

As time went on, Frank came in for more, and Paul produced them. The other survivors were amazed that Paul could make these ultimate tools of destruction, and all were comfortable with the fact that Paul could blow the zombies away if they ever came in.

When the helicopter finally arrived, the other survivors and Paul walked out onto the rooftop. Mindy, even though she was still terrified of the troubled teen, thanked him for not blowing her to smithereens. She then left Paul to talk to Jolie, who had become a great friend of hers. Paul was glad that the people of Willamette were no longer laughing at him. They climbed into the helicopter, and as they flew away from the dead city, Paul threw his last Molotov out of the helicopter.

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	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Jessie McCarney and Brad Garrison

It was March 3rd, 2006. 25 year old Jessie McCarney, a tall, skinny girl with brilliant blonde hair, was running through the halls of the DHS headquarters. Clutched to her chest was a stack of papers she had to get to her boss. She had been working on these reports for weeks, and had finally finished. As she turned a corner, she noticed the elevator's doors closing.

"Wait!" she screamed as she quickened her pace.

The doors continued to close and she yelled again. The doors were now fully closed and she could hear the hum of the elevator as it descended into the lower floors of the building. She checked her watch and saw it was three minutes until ten.

"Great," she muttered as she turned around and headed for the stairs. She sprinted down the hall, and didn't notice the mess of computer wires stretched across the hall. As she ran over them, her heel caught in them and sent her flying. The stack of papers exploded and flew everywhere. She had hit the ground hard, and she felt searing pains in her right ankle and arm. Her shoe was tangled up in the wire, and her glasses had fallen off and shattered. The sound of all the commotion bought many curious coworkers out of their cubicles.

"Isn't that the new girl?" someone in the crowd asked.

"I think it is,"

"What happened?"

"Is she okay?"

Jessie heard a loud rumble of voices rise out of the cloud of people. Then another voice rose above the others, "What is going on here!" The other employees scattered into their cubicles as Mr. Young, Jessie's boss, came down the hall.

"Ms. McCarney, what are you doing on the floor?" he asked.

"Mr. Young! O-oh, I-I was j-just getting th-these reports i-in," Jessie stammered as she attempted to get up. As she got into a standing position, her ankle collapsed and sent her sprawling.

"Looks like you had a little accident." Mr. Mr. Young, Jessie's boss, came down the hall.

"Ms. McCarney, what are you doing on the floor?" he asked.

"Mr. Young! O-oh, I-I was j-just getting th-these reports i-in," Jessie stammered as she attempted to get up. As she got into a standing position, her ankle collapsed and sent her sprawling.

"Looks like you had a little accident." Mr. Young said. This brought snickers from the other employees. Young held his hand up, and the snickers immediately stopped.

"Are these your reports?" he asked.

"Yes sir," Jessie said as she tried to stand again.

"Are they done?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now gather them up and bring them to my office. Once you get there, I'll introduce you to your new business partner," he said. He took one last look around, and headed back toward his office.

"Let me help you up," Sharon Smalls said as she ran over to Jessie. She grabbed Jessie's uninjured arm and helped her up.

"Thanks, Sharon," Jessie said as she stood and faced the small, mousy brown hair blue eyed woman.

"Would you like help collecting these papers?" she asked.

"No thanks, you get back to work," Jessie said as she began collecting her papers.

"Well, okay, holler if you need me," Sharon said as she walked away.

It took Jessie almost an hour to collect her papers and get them in the right order. Her glasses were in her pocket, and as she limped toward the fuzzy brown image that was the elevator, she could feel the wire digging into her thigh.

She pressed the up button on the elevator, and when to door opened, she squeezed in between Danny McAlister and Frieda Hanson.

"You okay?" Danny asked.

She turned to Frieda and answered, "I'm fine, Danny."

"I'm over here," he said tapping her shoulder.

"Oh, sorry," she apologized.

The bell in the elevator went off and the doors opened. "What floor are we on?" she asked.

"Five," Frieda said.

Two more people entered and stood in front of Jessie.

The elevator continued on its way up, and when the doors opened on the tenth floor Jessie asked, "What floor now?"

"Ten," Frieda answered.

"Okay," Jessie said and pushed passed the others and out of the elevator. Jessie squinted around the area, and made her way toward what she thought was her boss' office. On her way across the floor, she crashed into three walls, opened five wrong doors, and almost tripped over a stack of boxes holding new computers. At last she reached Mr. Young's office. She knocked on the door, hoping she had the right door.

"Come in," Mr. Young answered.

Jessie opened the door and limped into the office.

"Ah, Ms. McCarney, you made it," Mr. Young said.

"Yes," Jessie said as she caught her breath.

"Mr. Garrison, this is Jessica McCarney. She's an excellent worker," Mr. Young said, making the introductions.

"Hello Jessica," Brad said extending his hand.

"Please call me Jessie," she said shaking the hand of the blurry shape that was Brad.

"I'm Brad. For the next few months we'll be getting you ready for field work. Then I'll give you an assignment and supervise you," Brad explained.

"Sounds great," Jessie said as she got up to leave.

"Oh and Ms. McCarney, you might want to fix those glasses before tomorrow," Mr. Young said as she left.

Jessie left the office and wall hugged her way toward the elevator. Once she was in it, she pressed the lobby button and waited as the elevator descended. When the elevator doors opened revealing the lobby, she limped out and passed the front desk.

"Have a good night Ms. McCarney," Diana Simon said.

"You too, Diana," Jessie answered with false cheer. She limped out onto the street and right into the downpour that had taken over Washington D.C.

"Great," she muttered as she squinted at the mixed blur of cars and lights in hopes of finding a taxi. After twenty minutes of trying to get a taxi, Jessie McCarney was soaked to the skin. Her black work suit was clinging to her body, her hair was a limp mess hanging in front of her face, and her mascara was running. Finally, a taxi came to pick up the distressed woman.

"Evening ma'am," the driver said as she slid into the back seat. "Where to?"

Jessie told the driver the address, and they were off. As he drove through the brightly lit streets of Washington D.C., Jessie wondered what kind of field assignment she would have. She had only been a member of the DHS for a few months.

"That'll be thirteen dollars," the driver said, interrupting her thoughts.

She reached into her purse and pulled out a twenty. "Keep the change," she said and got out of the car. She slowly limped up the stairs leading to the front door of her apartment building. She entered the lobby and was glad to be out of the rain. She took the elevator up to the fourth floor, went down the hall to her apartment, and unlocked the door. As the door opened, she sensed that something was wrong. She turned on the lights which illuminated her apartment, showing that absolutely nothing was wrong. She shrugged off the feeling, stripped out of her clothes, and got into the shower. As the hot water hit her cold body, she felt that feeling again. It was as though something wasn't right. Again she shrugged it off, bathed, and put on her pajamas. She fished her glasses out of her pocket and tossed them in the trashcan. She grabbed her spare pair from her table drawer, put them on the table, and got into bed. As she drifted into a deep sleep her last, conscience thought was, _don't go._

Months passed, and it was September 18th. Jessie had spent the last part of the year training with Brad and it was finally time for her first assignment on the field. The day before Brad had gotten a call from an anonymous source in a town called Willamette. It was a small, quiet town in the mountains of Colorado. It was a perfect assignment for Jessie. The source had also called Dr. Barnaby, which meant it had to be something medical. That made it even better; Jessie had gone to medical school and had graduated near the top of her class.

So now, they were preparing for a short trip to Willamette. They would leave tonight and arrive early on the 19th.

"Brad, I've been looking over what you gave me and there is something I don't understand." Jessie said as she walked up to Brad as he was talking to the pilot of the plane they were taking.

"What is it, I thought I made it clear," Brad responded.

"You did, it's just that I don't understand why we are landing on the rooftop of a mall."

"The man who called said the airport was down, and that the helicopter pad on the mall is the only place to land."

"Okay," Jessie said as she turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Brad asked.

"I still need to pack," Jessie answered.

"We'll only be there a day. Put on some fresh clothes before we leave. You should be fine," Brad said.

"Alright, well I'm going to go home for a bit, and I'll meet you here later." Jessie's heels clicked on the highly polished tile as she walked out of the airport.

Brad and Jessie were now on the rooftop of the Willamette Parkview Mall. There was a mass of people in front of the doors. They were all moaning and they all walked very slowly.

"Brad, what's going on? What's wrong with those people?" she asked, indicating to their grayish color.

"I don't know, let's get into the mall and figure this out," Brad said.

Just then, Jessie got the same feeling that she had in February. She felt as though something was not right.

"Brad, I think we should go," Jessie said. "You can call the pilot. Something doesn't feel right."

"Jessie, you're just nervous. Once you get in there you'll feel better,"

Again Jessie shrugged off the feeling and followed Brad into the security room. They entered a hallway with many doors, which unknown to them, would hold all the survivors Frank would rescue during their stay in the mall. They walked into the monitor room, and Jessie looked around the mall. The place was deserted except for a few people in Entrance Plaza. It looked like they were in trouble, and a few of them were constructing a barricade.

"Brad, come look at this," Jessie said.

Brad walked over to Jessie and stood beside her. He took a look at the monitors, and walked out of the room toward the door leading to Entrance Plaza. Jessie started to follow him and he turned around and said, "Stay here and watch the monitors."

Jessie turned back and walked back into the monitor room. She sat in the chair and examined the monitors. She saw a very elderly woman pushing people away from the barricade. She destroyed it and threw open the doors. The others around her tried to get the doors closed again, but the people outside got in. She saw one of them attack a man in a jacket and take a bite out of his neck.

"Oh my god!" she screamed as she jumped out of the chair. She now saw the others being attacked. A woman in a white sweatshirt was trying to get to her friend and was attacked. Another man seemed to be trying to fend them off with a baseball bat. He swung his bat wildly, but they still got to him. One of them dug its teeth into his arm and blood spurted out of the wound. The plaza was now littered with bodies and blood covered the floor.

"Brad!" Jessie screamed and pulled out her gun. She was running toward the door when Brad burst into the room.

"What happened?!" Jessie screamed.

"I don't know. Go back to the monitors," Brad answered. Just as he said this, a man in a janitor's uniform came out from behind the air duct.

Jessie saw him and pointed her gun. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Otis Washington. I'm the janitor here," the man replied.

Jessie lowered her gun, but was still cautious. "What's going on here?" she asked.

"Don't really know," Otis replied.

Before Jessie could say anything else, a man with a camera came bursting through the door.

"Where are the others?" Brad asked, suggesting he had seen this man in the plaza.

"I don't know, I hope they got away," the man answered.

Brad motioned to Otis and he grabbed a welder from beside the door and started welding it shut.

The man introduced himself as Frank and he and Brad talked some more, and Brad crawled through the ducts and back into the mall. Now it was Jessie's turn to speak.

"Are you a photographer, Frank?" she asked.

"Yeah," he answered.

"Can I see some of your pictures?" she asked.

He handed her his camera and she scrolled through the pictures until she found one of an old man. She paused at it and took a better look at it.

"I took that one near the entrance," Frank said. "Did that guy do something?"

"No, thanks for showing me though," she said and turned back to go to the monitors.

"Wait, who exactly are you people?" he asked.

"I'm Jessie, that man you saw earlier is Brad. That's all I'm authorized to tell you," she said and walked into the monitor room. Once in her chair, Jessie lost her cool.

Pictures of the horrific seen she had witnessed reeled through her mind. She put her head in her hands, and hoped to God Brad would be okay.

A few minutes later, Frank was back with two people. Otis, apparently very glad to see them, appointed them to a room with a bright blue door. As they walked past Jessie, they introduced themselves as Jeff and Natalie Meyer. These two people were the very first that Jessie would come to meet over the next few days.

A while later, while she was watching the monitors that now showed the zombie infested mall, she happened to take a look at the Food Court. Brad was behind a counter, shooting at a Mexican man who was on the railing near the roof, and shooting at Brad with an automatic gun. Jessie jumped up, and despite what Otis' advise to stay put, crawled through the vent. She ran to the elevator and pushed the button to go down. A minute later she was running through the warehouse. As she came to the turn near the door, she had no idea that Frank was waiting around it with a fire extinguisher. As she rounded the corner, he swung the fire extinguisher. She was taken by complete surprise, and before she knew it she was on the ground with her gun out.

"Oh it's you. Don't sneak up on me like that," Frank said as he put the extinguisher down.

"Brad's been attacked, he needs my help," Jessie said as she stood. She took a step forward and found she couldn't walk.

"It's probably just a sprain," he said.

"I need to help Brad, or he's done for," she said as she attempted to keep going.

"Fine give me the gun," he said. Jessie couldn't believe it. She hardly knew him, and he should know she couldn't just give him her gun. But then again, what choice did she have? She couldn't help Brad like this. "Come on, I'm the reason you just got hurt."

"Do you know how to use this?" she asked.

"Kinda, I've covered wars you know," he said.

After a moment of thinking, she handed him the gun.

"After this, you and I are gonna have a nice, little chat," he said and was off. Jessie limped back to the security room. The sprained ankle was only the first of many problems she would have during the next three days.

Ending A

During the last three days, Brad had done all he could to protect Jessie. Now here he was, sitting in the maintenance tunnels as zombies chewed the skin off of his arms, legs, and neck. As the skin ripped and the blood flowed, he only felt two things. Pain and remorse. In the end, what did it matter? That psycho was still alive, and Jessie had no one now. One by one, the zombies wandered away from Brad. His supply of flesh had become low, and Frank West was coming around the corner covered in warm, fresh flesh.

Frank ran up to Brad and tried to tell him he was going to be okay. Brad refused to believe this, and as he turned to zombie hood his last words were, "Don't tell Jessie." He didn't want to hurt her anymore than he already had.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

The stay at Willamette had been the worst time of Jessie McCarney's life. Brad had been shot and she had to heal him, she had been attacked and bitten by Dr. Barnaby, and now the only one who could help her was nowhere to be found. The Special Forces agents were on their way, and all the survivors were asleep.

Brad had still not come back from the maintenance tunnels, and Jessie had the feeling he wouldn't be coming back. She was now sitting in the corner of the security room on the green cot, and she was feeling very depressed. But there was a feeling that covered that depression. It was the feeling of being very hungry, and her whole body felt limp and achy.

"What am I going to do!" she yelled. She put her head on her knees and sobbed. Just then a team of Special Forces men ran through the security, collecting the various survivors, interrogating them and bringing them to their helicopter on the roof.

Once all the survivors were taken care of, one of them came up to her. She could see another guarding the door.

"Jessica McCarney?" he asked, holding a picture of her up in front of him to see if they were the same person.

"If you promise to keep your mouth shut about all this, we'll let you go," he said.

As he finished his sentence, all feeling left Jessie's body. She no longer had any self control, and in her last moments of being a human, she saw herself attack the man in front of her. The guard outside the door heard a commotion in the room and burst in. The last thing he saw was Jessie McCarney rip the flesh off the other man's neck.

Frank West came in to check on Jessie and saw her blood stained corpse wandering around the security room. He aimed his gun and shot her in the head.

Ending B

The hellish stay at the Willamette Parkview Mall was finally over. As Brad, Jessie, Otis, and every other survivor piled into the helicopter, Jessie wondered what their boss would say once they told him what had happened. Brad was already devising a plan.

Once they were back in D.C, he would tell Mr. Young there was an attack in Willamette. He would order in some special forces and tell them every citizen had been infected by the disease and must be killed. It was a full proof plan that had to work.

The ride to D.C with over fifty people in the helicopter was very long and loud. Once in D.C, every survivor was taken in, interrogated, made to sign a confidentiality form, and let go.

The Special Forces agents had taken out every last zombie in Willamette. The whole operation was kept a secret from everybody except Brad, Jessie, and the survivors. Brad went through great pains to make sure Mr. Young knew nothing of the Special Forces order, or the zombies. Brad and Jessie continued to work at the DHS, just in case Carlito decided to show his face again. He never did, but a few days later, another very mysterious disease swept through the United States.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Pamela and Heather Tompkins

"Pamela, come on!" Heather screamed. She and her sister were in the middle of the Entrance Plaza of the Willamette Parkview Mall. After running non-stop through the streets of Willamette for over an hour, Pamela looked as though she was about to collapse.

"Hold on," she gasped.

"Hurry up!" Heather yelled as she shot a zombie away from her sister. "This gun doesn't have an infinite amount of bullets you know!" she yelled as she shot another. She had taken the gun out of her parents' dresser before they had left. She'd used it to shoot her parents, little brother, and zombies as they ran through the streets. Another zombie lunged at Pamela and Heather shot it. She took out the clip to check the status. It was empty. She took another out of her pocket and put it in the gun.

"Last one," she murmured.

Pamela finally stood back up and prepared to get back to running. "Okay, I'm ready," she said.

"It's about time! Let's go!" Heather yelled. She ran into the crowd of zombies, not checking to see if Pamela was following her.

"Wait!" Pamela screamed and ran after her. She followed Heather into Paradise Plaza, a plaza she knew rather well. But this time, instead of being packed with living breathing people, it was packed with flesh hungry monsters. And something else.

A yellow flash ran in front of her, temporarily blocking Heather from view. She stopped, surprised and curious. She heard footsteps behind her and turned around. All she saw was a mass of zombies. She heard the sound of a body hit the ground and turned toward it, thinking it was Heather. All she saw was a dead zombie and another yellow flash. Now she was beginning to get scared.

"Heather?" she yelled. "This isn't funny!"

There was no response, but she saw three more zombies fall to the ground. The sound of running feet was again behind her. She turned around and looked into a bright green distorted face.

"Oh my God! Heather!" she screamed. The masked figure wrapped its hands around her throat, choking her.

"Heather, help!" she choked as she was dragged away. She vision was beginning to get black, but she saw she was being dragged toward the movie theater. As they figure reached the entrance, he let go. She fell to the floor, coughing and gasping for air.

"The vermin of the earth have been brought to me through my faithful servants!" a man in a white, bloodstained robe said in a priestly voice. Pamela looked around and saw hundreds of other people in yellow raincoats, all wearing green masks, except one. There was a woman huddled next to her. She was in an orange vest and a green shirt. She had a terrified and exhausted look on her face. Her mouth was taped and her hands were tied. She screamed through the tape something that had the same sound as "Watch out!" As she said this, a man in a yellow raincoat came at her with a length of rope.

"Oh god, no!" she screamed and tried to back away. She backed into another cultist. He grabbed her hair and lifted her up. He wrapped one arm around her waist and held out her hands with the other. As the cultist with the rope reached her, there was a gunshot and he fell to the floor, face forward.

"Leave her alone!" Heather yelled and shot the man holding her arms. He fell dead and the others advanced toward Heather with their knives out.

"Oh shit," she whispered, not expecting them to be armed. "Come on Pamela!" she yelled before they could grab her again.

Pamela ran toward Heather, and this time passes without checking to see if her sister was behind. Pamela had completely forgotten Jennifer and Heather. Her only thought was too escape. As she neared the dock that linked the toy store and music store to the plaza, she finally looked back. All she saw was zombies and nothing else. She continued to run, still looking backward and not forward. She tripped over a potted plant and fell into the moat.

"Ouch!" she screamed as her elbows collided with the tile. She stood up, her clothes soaked. She turned around to climb out and saw a wall of zombies coming at her. She screamed as they all piled into the moat and attacked, each trying to get a bite out of the terrified teen.

She heard more gunshots and knew Heather was on her way. Then she heard another thing, a click signaling an empty gun and a frustrated scream. She saw Heather on the dock and yelled to her. "Help me!"

"Heather took one look at her and ran into the toy store, hoping to find a weapon. She only saw toy swords and Frisbees. At the counter was a cash register, but that wouldn't help much. Pamela was pounding on the glass and begging for her sister to break the window. Heather watched the scene before her through watery eyes. She desperately wanted to help Pamela, but she couldn't. She thought of what had happened in the last few hours. She had lost her parents, friends, brother, and now her only sister and best friend. She broke down in tears and prayed for help. And help did come. It came in a brown jacket and camera. Heather heard the sound of zombies dying and looked up to see a man standing on the ledge of the moat, broken glass at his feet and dead zombies around Pamela. He jumped in and talked to her, apparently trying to comfort her. He led her out of the moat and into the store where he saw Heather. He told her and Pamela about the security room, and they both agreed to go with him. He handed Heather a knife and grabbed Pamela's hand.

"Again I have to protect her," Heather thought. It wasn't a bad thing though. She had a duty not to let Pamela down again and was determined not to. She fought her way across the plaza and through the warehouse. Once in the security room, she handed the knife to Otis, who led her and Pamela to their room where a few other people stood watching as the girls came in.

The helicopter came for them at noon on Friday. Pamela and Heather ran onto the roof together, happy to finally get out of hell.

"I'm sorry I left you for dead out there," Heather apologized. She had spent the past two days arguing with Pamela about what happened, and she wanted to patch things up so when they got out they would finally get along.

"Heather, I know you couldn't do anything else. But thanks for saving me from those horrible people. When we get out of here, let's just forget about it," Pamela said.

"Deal," Heather said. She pulled Pamela into a hug, glad that things would turn out alright.


End file.
